A project of Blue Canoe Theatrical Productions Inc. Kingston’s Youth Theatre Company Since 2006

2017 Final Report

A project of Blue Canoe Theatrical Productions Inc. Kingston’s Youth Theatre Company Since 2006

2017 Highlights

1,796 Youth Engaged (increase of 668 from 2016)

o 40%- ages 13-17

o 45%- ages 18-24

o 15%- ages 35-30

2,003 Audience Attendance (increase of 587 from 2016)

39% of Audience live 25km outside of Kingston

50% of Kingston audience is from K7M postal code

30 projects funded and executed. All created and managed

by youth totalling 63 performances, screenings,

presentations, etc.

21 free workshops for youth

45 new works created

7 Youth Employed, 31 Artists Paid

A project of Blue Canoe Theatrical Productions Inc. Kingston’s Youth Theatre Company Since 2006

Forward I grew up in Gananoque, a small town just outside of Kingston. Like any small town, Gan didn’t

really have a lot of bells and whistles, a few schools, some stores, a nice waterfront, one high

school, the type of town where as you get older you end up spending most of your youth in

Kingston. One very interesting thing about Gan was these two houses across the street from

the high school. On the outside, they seemed like any other houses; one had white siding, one

was red brick, both clearly had multiple floors, a backyard with green grass, white fences, trees

out front, the type of house you may walk by not knowing that they were really two Juvenile

Institutions. When I was in Elementary School my class took a trip to one of these houses,

which was a Juvenile House for boys. Now I know what you’re thinking, and I thought it too,

they took us here to scare us, to keep young people in line and show them what would happen

if you broke the law. But that’s not what happened to me. I went inside, a bit scared of what I

was going to see, and all I saw was a house. I saw young people who needed help, I saw caring

adults wanting to give them a fighting chance considering many of them had a bad home life,

came from poverty, faced other barriers that made the simple things I took for granted hard for

them. I was shocked. This wasn’t a place of fear, or a cold jail with uncaring guards. This was a

safe space, somewhere to heal, to learn from mistakes, to support young people who simply

needed support, like we all do at one time.

This stuck with me when it came to planning Kingston’s first ever youth arts festival. I knew I

wanted to pass this project off to young people right away and stay away from the artistic

decisions, in order to truly give young people control of this festival. But the one thing that I

insisted upon was the name. It had to be Juvenis. Juvenis is the Latin word for ‘young person’

and is the root of the word ‘juvenile’. It means a youth, a person who is young, for us that

means under the age of 30. Our modern world took a word that means young person, and

turned it into a word full of negative connotations. It’s time to take that word back. Juvenis

means young, “juvenile” and “juvy” have become weighted terms, thought of in a negative

way. But when visiting and volunteering at “juvy” in Gan, the young people there never saw it

that way. They saw it as their second chance, not punishment, but course correcting, reflection

and time for growth. I’m proud to take that word and use it against the same society and

culture that used it against young people for years. It’s time to go back to juvy, to embrace our

younger sides again, and to support youth in Kingston.

Michael Sheppard

Founder of Blue Canoe Productions and

The Juvenis Festival

A project of Blue Canoe Theatrical Productions Inc. Kingston’s Youth Theatre Company Since 2006

History

Blue Canoe Productions' The Juvenis

Festival is Kingston’s youth-led, not-for-

profit, Youth Arts Festival that engages

youth between the ages of 13 and 30

throughout the Kingston community. The

Juvenis Festival generates opportunities for

local young artists to showcase their work,

as well as educational programming that

will allow them to further develop their

skills in the arts. The Juvenis Festival has

three main areas of focus: arts education, professional development, and youth-curated and

created arts presentations. The Juvenis Festival aims to provide a platform for Kingston youth

that celebrates young people in the arts and

their invaluable contribution to our

community.

"Art is anything you participate in that helps

you tackle the impossible task of

communicating who you are."

Cristina Goncalves (Juvy 2016 and 2017)

Our Goals

1. Broadcast the creative voice of youth in Kingston

2. Generate opportunities for young artists to lead their own creative processes with the support of their peers and professional mentors

3. Provide youth with a safe, positive space for learning, artistic experimentation and the opportunity for growth and professional development, free of charge

4. Partner with and support youth organizations to inspire our community to open their eyes and ears to the voices and ideas of youth

5. Broaden the general public’s perception of young people’s contribution to the arts by presenting a professional and engaging youth-led showcase

A project of Blue Canoe Theatrical Productions Inc. Kingston’s Youth Theatre Company Since 2006

The Juvenis Festival 2017 Year 2

Programming Dance Theatre

Launch Event featuring “Hey Beautiful” Homeschooled the Musical

UNFAMILIAR Zombie Prom: The Musical

Out of Sight, Out of Mind Play Series

Visual Arts Music

Storefront Art Gallery Musiikki Performance Series

Alibi Art Gallery Music Nights at the Alibi

Battle of the Bands

Storytelling/Spoken Word Film

Viva Voce: Good Vibrations Rapid Reel 48 Hour Film Challenge

The Poetry Show KFPL Youth Shorts

Workshop Series

Music Pottery

Vocals Masterclass with Tim Stiff Pottery for Beginners with Dawn Sieben

The Music Side of a Musical with Hugh Johnston

Dance/Movement Craft

Drum and Dance with Yessica Rivera Belsham Art Journaling with Heather Kushum Sheedy

& Nomsa Mngoma Origami with Oliver Pontb

Musical Theatre Dance with Melissa Prince Silkscreen T-Shirts with Phoebe Cohoe

Let's Move! Contemporary Dance with Kay Kenney

Visual Arts Photography

SFX Makeup with Joseph Hinds Event Photography- Mark Bergin & Sophia Kendall

Landscape Painting with Phoebe Cohoe Landscape Photography with Claudia Pawlak

Visual Storytelling with Katharine Vingoe-Cram

Silkscreen T-Shirts with Phoebe Cohoe

Theatre/Drama Poetry

Site Specific Staging with Aimee Bouchard Spoken Word with Johnny MacRae

Audition Workshop with Ryan Cowl and Maddy Schaefer Scovil

Improv with Dan Walmsely

Directing: A round table discussion with Chiamaka Ugwu & Sarah Phillips

Performance Techniques with Ryan Cowl and Maddy Schaefer Scovil

Panel Talks

New to the Juvenis Festival were Panel Talks; these developed out of feedback from 2016 where we

found several participants felt taking a workshop can be too challenging for someone who is just

interested in a topic. Juvenis held two talks, one on Film Production and the other on Blog Writing.

A project of Blue Canoe Theatrical Productions Inc. Kingston’s Youth Theatre Company Since 2006

The Juvenis Festival Breakdown

Youth Engagement

JUVENIS 2016 JUVENIS 2017 YOUTH PARTICIPANTS 488 822 YOUTH AUDIENCE/ATTENDING EVENTS 640 974 TOTAL YOUTH ENGAGEMENT 1,128 1, 796

2017 Youth Engagement Breakdown

Age Range Geography Demographic

Ages 13-17 40% Living South of Princess St 30%

Ages 18-24 45% Living on Queen’s Campus 25%

Ages 25-30 15% Living West of Sir John A Blvd. 33%

Living North of Princess 12%

2017 Youth Leadership Opportunities

Youth Employed 7 Youth Event Managers 8

Youth Project Leaders 30 Programming Committee 5

A project of Blue Canoe Theatrical Productions Inc. Kingston’s Youth Theatre Company Since 2006

Audience Engagement

TOTAL AUDIENCE 2,003 AUDIENCE BREAKDOWN Percent Number LIVING IN KINGSTON 61% 1,222 LIVING 25KM AWAY FROM KINGSTON 39% 781 TOP OUTSIDE OF KINGSTON LOCATIONS:

1. TORONTO 2. OTTAWA 3. GTA

KINGSTON POSTAL CODES BREAKDOWN Percent Number K7M (WEST END, BATH ROAD) 50% 611 K7L (DOWNTOWN/QUEEN’S) 25% 306 KLK (NORTH OF PRINCESS) 25% 305

How audience found out about Juvenis:

Family/Friend Involved 57.0%

Social Media 11.5%

Internet/Website 8.5%

Email Newsletter 7.6%

Word of Mouth 5.3%

Poster 3.5%

Newspaper 2.2%

Radio 1.5%

TV 1.5%

Displays 1.0%

Other 0.8%

Audience Age Range:

65+ 228

40-65 508

30-40 303

25-30 270

18-24 503

13-17 231

Under the age of 30 974

Over the age of 30 1,039

A project of Blue Canoe Theatrical Productions Inc. Kingston’s Youth Theatre Company Since 2006

2017 Juvenis Festival Staff

Managing Director- Jane Karges

Festival Producer- Reid Cunningham

Administrator- Melissa Prince

Marketing Strategist- Steven Simard

Production Manager- Taylor Vardy

Production Assistant- Maureen Barnes

Production Mentor- Neil Shorthouse

Graphic Designer- Mat McAllister

Volunteer Coordinators

Amber Lockwood, Katie Johnstone

Our Funding Partners

The City of Kingston

The Kingston Arts Council

Blue Skies in the Community

Kingston Community House

Our Sponsors

Homestead Landholdings

Kingston Frameworks

Reid and Stevenson

Echo Hair Studio

Gabriel Pizza

Campus One Stop

Dianna Bristol

The Pal Family

Britt Smith

The Prince Family

Our Community Partners

Youth2Kingston (Y2K) Kingston Writers Fest Reelout Arts Project

Kingston Frontenac Public Library Blackdog Catering The Union Gallery

The Boys & Girls Club of Kingston Kingston Canadian Film Fest TV Cogeco

Agnes Etherington Arts Centre The Kingstonist 98.9 the Drive

The Alibi Kingston Musiiki Kingston Keystone Properties

The Dan School of Drama and Music Confederation Place Hotel Downtown Kingston

The Students Commission of Canada Regiopolis Notre-Dame Holy Cross S.S

Limestone District School Board ISKA Pathways to Education

Kingston Poetry Collective Kaboom Arts Project Curious You Productions